I need recipes! (Kohlrabi & Puerto Rican Hangover Soup)

Cafe Society
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Ok, I am looking for two (or more) separate recipes.

#1 - My stepmother <ptui> used to serve kohlrabi as a dinner vegetable. I recall it being served hot, peeled and sliced, with butter and pepper on it. What I can’t recall is how it got from alien-looking cabbagey thing to nummy side dish smothered in butter. Did she steam it? Was it cooked before or after peeling? How did she peel it in the first place? For reasons I shan’t go into here, I am not about to ask my stepmother <ptui> how she did it, but I do want to make it myself. Anyone know how to prepare this cabbagey alien?

#2 - At the restaurant where I used to work many years ago, the cooks were given a lot of latitude in off-hours. One of the cooks was a Puerto Rican guy who frequently came to work hungover. With a fully-stocked restaurant kitchen at his disposal, he would cure his hangover by making a large pot of what he called “Puerto Rican Hangover Soup.” Then he would share it with his co-workers, who may or may not have been suffering from their own hangovers. It was a clear soup, and my guess is it was at least nominally chicken-based, although I do not recall any actual chicken in it. I remember shrimp, carrots, celery and lots and lots of spices - not enough to make your eyes water, but definitely enough to make your lips tingle. Does this sound familiar to anyone?

Thanks in advance, and if anyone also knows the secret to strong, sweet Puerto Rican coffee, I’ll happily accept that info too!

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http://recipes.alastra.com/cgi-bin/recipes_search

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To start, for sweet strong Puerto Rican coffee you need Puerto Rican-grown coffee beans, of course. :wink:

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Kohlrabi is one of my favorite vegetables. I can even get little kids to eat it! They like it best raw, peeled, sliced paper thin, served in a bowl of ice water to stay crisp, and called something vague like “vegetable chips.”

It’s also great in soup, or as one component of roasted tossed vegetables, or steamed. Peel and dice–smallish, say half-inch cubes–and steam, or roast, or stir fry, or toss into soup.

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And you brew PR coffee by making sure the grounds are in contact with the hot water for more than a few instants – at my home: place water in saucepan, put grounds into it, bring gently up to near-boil, then pour through filter.
As for “hangover soup” , no idea, I thought the recommended food for hangovers was mondongo.